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Teen Girl Dies After Attending Rave at LA Memorial Coliseum

On June 30, 2010, in Life/Culture, by admin

Managers of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum are promising a thorough investigation after a 15-year-old girl died after attending a rave over the weekend at the venue.

The June 25-26 event drew 185,000 people. But more than 226 were injured, 114 taken to the hospital mostly for drug intoxication.

Sasha Rodriguez ended up with brain damage after reportedly drinking from a friend’s water bottle laced with the drug ecstasy. She died Tuesday after being on life support at the California Hospital Medical Center.

She was one of two party-goers who were in critical condition and treated for drug intoxication after attending the weekend’s 14th annual Electric Daisy Carnival. The event was billed as the largest dance party of its kind in North America, but when the crowds of dancers piled into the Coliseum over the weekend, many couldn’t stay on their feet, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.

At a rave at another state-owned arena near San Francisco last month, two young men died, likely from drug overdoses. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has now ordered a review of event guidelines at all state facilities.

Several major cities, including Denver, Milwaukee, Chicago, New Orleans and New York have cut down on raves by enforcing curfew laws and fire codes.

The people who run the Coliseum say they try to minimize drug use and injuries.

Thanks CBS.

Obama Appear in Tag Team’s “Whoomp (There it is)?

On June 14, 2010, in Celebrity, Political, by admin

Rumours have been circling the internet that President Barack Obama appeared in a music video as a young man.

A smiling man who bears a striking resemblance to the future president appears fleetingly in “Whoomp (There It Is)” – a successful 1993 release by hip-hop outfit Tag Team.

The mystery man appears at the 1 min 1 second mark in the video and is talking a on a large mobile phone while wearing a hat and sunglasses.

Suggestions that the future leader of the free world, who is a fan of hip-hop, had found time in his pre-presidential days to join a video shoot swept the internet.

Further weight was given to the unlikely suggestion when it was noticed that the man in the video plays dominoes with his left hand. President Obama is left handed.

However, sadly for conspiracy theorists, in 1993 Mr Obama was already 31 and heavily involved in political and community activism in Chicago.

Members of Tag Team who spoke to the Gawker website said the president’s doppelganger was in fact a friend of theirs, a Los Angeles rapper called LA Sno.

Thanks Daily Telegraph.

Tagged with: 1993 • Chicago • Los Angeles • music video • Obama • tag team • whoomp there it is

Brittany Murphy’s Husband Found Dead in Los Angeles Home

On May 24, 2010, in Celebrity, Life/Culture, by admin

The husband of Brittany Murphy was found dead at his Los Angeles home late Sunday, five months after the Hollywood actress died, police said.

The preliminary cause of the death of British screenwriter Simon Monjack is natural causes, police spokesman Sgt. Louie Lozano told The Associated Press.

“We concluded there no signs of foul play or any criminal activity involved,” said Sgt. Alex Ortiz, another police spokesman.

Firefighters responding to an emergency call from a woman at 9:40 p.m. found the 39-year-old Monjack dead at the Hollywood Hills residence, police spokesman Sgt. Louie Lozano said. Ortiz said he didn’t know who called. Monjack and Murphy had shared their home with Murphy’s mother, Sharon.

Ortiz said that the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office was taking over the investigation because criminal activity had been ruled out, and would provide more details later on the death and circumstances surrounding it.

At his wife’s funeral in December, a visibly emotional Monjack talked about their relationship and called her his best friend and soul mate. The two married in 2007.

He had said that they had been planning a family and contemplating a move to New York.

Murphy, best known for her major roles in “Clueless,” “Girl Interrupted,” and “8 Mile” in 2002, died Dec. 20, at age 32 after collapsing in her home. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office concluded Murphy’s death was accidental, but likely preventable.

The coroner’s report said that the medications found in her system were consistent with treatment of a cold or respiratory infection. Monjack and Murphy’s mother had reported the actress was ill with flulike symptoms in the days before her death.

An autopsy found no evidence that Murphy abused drugs. Investigators had found numerous prescription medications in her home.

Thanks Breitbart.

Tagged with: Associated Press • British • britney murphy • Dead • Death • Hollywood • Los Angeles • natural causes • simon monjack

California Cop Dresses up as Bunny and gets Reprimanded

On April 4, 2010, in Life/Culture, by admin

He was just trying to lighten things up while issuing tickets at pedestrian crossings, but police officer Tom Broadway had to ditch his Easter Bunny disguise when city officials charged his stunt was “breathtakingly dangerous.”

Broadway came up with his long-eared full-body disguise during a pedestrian enforcement campaign in Glendale, a Los Angeles suburb.

While it lasted, he issued 27 tickets to motorists who failed to stop when he was walking across a designated pedestrian crossing.

City officials, however, were not amused, and Broadway now is back on his beat in a more ordinary disguise: shorts and T-shirt.

Councilman John Drayman called the Easter Bunny stunt “breathtakingly dangerous.

“I am happy to hear that they modified the sting, and agreed that the idea of a giant rabbit — a total anomaly out in the roadway — is not exactly training our drivers to learn really anything.”

Thanks Yahoo.com

Tagged with: Broadway • City • dangerous • easter bunny • glendale • Los Angeles • Police

Utah Great Pro Footballer Merlin Olsen Dies of Cancer at 69

On March 11, 2010, in Celebrity, by admin

Pro Football Hall of Famer and former television actor Merlin Olsen has died. He was 69.

Utah State, Olsen’s alma mater, said he died outside of Los Angeles early Thursday after battling cancer. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung lining, last year.

“This was the voice of a man who not only became one of our country’s most decorated athletes, but also one of the most accomplished and respected people ever to hail from the state of Utah,” said Stan Albrecht, president of Utah State.

Olsen was an All-American at Utah State and a first-round draft pick of the Los Angles Rams in 1962.

The burley giant from northern Utah joined Deacon Jones, Lamar Lundy and Rosey Grier on the Rams’ storied “Fearsome Foursome” defensive line known for either stopping or knocking backward whatever offenses it faced. The Rams set an NFL record for the fewest yards allowed during a 14-game season in 1968.

Olsen was rookie of the year for the Rams in 1962 and is still the Rams’ all-time leader in career tackles with 915. He was named to 14 consecutive Pro Bowls, a string that started his rookie year.

Olsen was also an established television actor with a role on “Little House on the Prairie,” then starring in his own series, “Father Murphy,” from 1981 to 1983 and the short-lived “Aaron’s Way” in 1988.

Olsen was a consensus All-American at Utah State and won the 1961 Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman. The Rams drafted Olsen third overall in 1962 and he spent the next 15 years with the team before retiring in 1976.

Utah State honored Olsen in December by naming the football field at Romney Stadium “Merlin Olsen Field.” Because of his illness, Olsen’s alma mater didn’t want to wait until football season and made the announcement during halftime of a basketball game.

Olsen was well enough to attend, but did not speak at the event. He stood and smiled as he waved to fans during a standing ovation and chants of “Merlin Olsen!” and “Aggie Legend!”

Utah State is also planning a statue of Olsen at the southeast corner of the stadium.

The Rams also honored Olsen during a game Dec. 20, with a video tribute narrated by Dick Enberg, Olsen’s longtime broadcast partner. Olsen did not attend because of his health. His name was already part of the Ring of Fame inside the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis along with other franchise standouts.

He was voted NFC defensive lineman of the year in 1973 and the NFL MVP in 1974, and was voted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982.

Thanks Breitbart.

Tagged with: all american • Cancer • Died • Football • hall of fame • illness • little house on the prairie • Los Angeles • lung • merlin olsen • NFL • President • pro football • Utah

California Judicial Commission Admonished Judge For Making Attorney Pay in Coupons

On February 3, 2010, in Life/Culture, Political, by admin

A California judicial commission has admonished a retired judge for ordering that an attorney who settled a class-action lawsuit be paid in $10 coupons for women’s apparel. The lawsuit accused Windsor Fashions Inc. of invading customers’ privacy by requesting personal information during credit card transactions.

As part of the January 2009 settlement, the company issued coupons to the plaintiffs, and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brett Klein ordered that the attorney fee of $125,000 be paid similarly.

The Commission on Judicial Performance, which disciplines state judges, said Tuesday that Klein was biased and abusive. It also said he improperly communicated with the press by e-mailing his decision to a small newspaper.

Klein later rescinded his order to pay the attorney with coupons. He retired in November.

Thanks My Way.

Tagged with: adminished • Attorney • California • commission • credit card • judicial • Los Angeles • newspaper • retired judge • windsor fashions

Tila Tequila’s Odd Farewell to late Heiress Casey Johnson

On January 11, 2010, in Celebrity, by admin

God, this woman is gross! Tila Tequila bids bizarre video farewell to heiress ‘wifey’ Casey Johnson

The “wifey” of doomed heiress Casey Johnson released a farewell video Thursday, telling her “I will always love you.”

“I miss you so much and that’s all that matters,” an emotional but dry-eyed Tila Tequila said.

“There’s so much chaos going on right now without you here. I just wish you were here because there’s so much chaos. None of that really matters to me because all I know is that your love is right here with me always.”

The reality TV star, sitting with her back to a piano, wrapped up her brief eulogy by stating, “I miss you and you’ll always be in my heart and I will always love you.”

Tequila did not elaborate on the “chaos.”

But she released the video – which appeared on RadarOnline.com – a day after Johnson’s celebrity gal pals retrieved her dogs from Tequila’s home in Los Angeles.

After reportedly giving Bijou Phillips and Nicky Hilton the green light to come get the pooches, Zoe and Elvis, Tequila refused to answer the door when they knocked – then called the cops.

It was only after the police, followed by herds of reporters, arrived that Tequila emerged and allowed Hilton and Phillips to take the dogs and Johnson’s effects.

“She’s milking this for all the attention she can get,” a Johnson family insider said Thursday.

Johnson is the daughter of Jets owner Woody Johnson. A 30-year-old heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune with a bad case of diabetes and a history of substance abuse, she was found dead by a maid at a Los Angeles home on Monday.

Investigators still haven’t pinned down what killed her but said there was no evidence of trauma – and that she may have been there for days. Tequila confirmed the death of “my Wifey Casey Johnson” on Twitter.

Johnson and the 28-year-old attention hog had been an item for about a month. Johnson outraged her parents by giving Tequila a 17-carat engagement ring in an online video – while both were clad in their bras and panties.

Since the heiress’ death, the Johnson family has shunned Tequila, and Johnson’s gal pals did not invite her to a hastily arranged memorial at Nicky Hilton’s house Tuesday night.

Tequila on Thursday also clarified – once again, on Twitter – that she wasn’t with her fiance on New Years Eve because she was “out of town” visiting her brother.

Last month, Tequila announced via a Tweet that she was “going to become a SURROGATE MOTHER for my brother and his Wife!!…That is my xmas present to them.”

Casey Johnson’s body is expected to be flown back east this week for burial after a private funeral limited to immediate family.

A family spokesman declined to give any further details.

Thanks Daily News

Tagged with: bijou phillips • casey johson • chaos • cops • Daily News • God • i will always love you • Los Angeles • nicky hilton • raderonline • tequila • wifey

Gays Have Arrived! Appearing on the “Newlywed Game Show”

On September 16, 2009, in Celebrity, TV/Reality, by admin

The Newlywed Game” is bringing on its first gay couple.

It’s a celebrity duo for the long-running game show, now on the GSN cable network. George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on “Star Trek,” will appear with his partner, Brad Altman. They just celebrated their first anniversary after being married in Los Angeles.

Takei and Altman have been together for 22 years, so they’re nothing like the giggly young couples who appeared on the first version of the show.

The new edition of “The Newlywed Game” began airing on GSN a year ago and has been a ratings success. Singer Carnie Wilson has replaced Bob Eubanks as host.

Tagged with: carnie wilson • Gay • george takei • gsn • Los Angeles • Newlywed game • star trek

Some Positive Gain in the California Wild Fires?

On September 1, 2009, in Life/Culture, by admin

Some promising news on the fires that rage in California. Firefighters set backfires and removed brush with bulldozers across a huge swath of Southern California forest on Tuesday to try to contain a 190-square-mile wildfire that has destroyed 53 homes and threatened thousands more in foothill suburbs.

The commander of the vast firefighting operation expressed a positive outlook for the first time in the week since the blaze erupted in the Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles and grew into a giant.

“I’m feeling a lot more optimistic today than I did yesterday and the crews are doing fabulous work out there on the grounds but the bottom line is that they’re fighting for every foot,” said Mike Dietrich of the U.S. Forest Service.

Lets hope they put a stop to this before it reaches the communication towers.

Tagged with: angeles national forest • califronia • firefighters • Los Angeles • southern califronia • US • wild fires

Lindsay Lohan’s House Burglarized Again for the Third Time

On August 23, 2009, in Celebrity, by admin

This just in from TMZ: Police were called for the second time in three months to the Hollywood Hills home of actress Lindsay Lohan on Sunday to investigate a reported burglary there, a police spokesman said.

The latest call came in at about 6:30 a.m. local time, but the spokesman at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood station said he had no further details, including who made the call or whether Lohan was home at the time.

The celebrity news website TMZ.com reported that the actress discovered the break-in after coming home at about 3 a.m. and called her father, Michael Lohan, who called police.

He told TMZ that a safe was ripped off a wall in the home and that a couple of watches were taken, and that he believes the theft was “an inside job” because employees for his daughter had failed to turn on the house burglar alarm.

TMZ also cited an unnamed source as saying that three men can be seen in a surveillance video breaking into Lohan’s home.

A previous burglary attempt was reported there in May, police said. According to TMZ the suspects in that incident apparently were frightened off by the alarm, but not before intruders were captured on videotape trying to gain entry.

A number of media reports at the time quoted police as saying officers initially thought the house had been ransacked but determined that the place was just messy.

The 23-year-old actress, who became known as much for her nightclub antics as for her screen talent, has sought lately to rebuild her career following a string of high-profile personal problems that included a 2007 conviction for drunken driving and cocaine possession.

Last month, she starred in a ABC Family television movie and launched a new TV and film production company with her fashion-line partner

Tagged with: ABC • Hollywood • Lindsay Lohan • Los Angeles • MICHAEL LOHAN • TMZ

Diane Keaton Tries To Save A Historic Hotel in Los Angeles

On July 29, 2009, in Celebrity, Life/Culture, by admin

The greatest comedian of our time, Diane Keaton, is campaigning to save an old Los Angeles hotel from demolition.

The First Wives Club star told The New York Times one of the reasons she wants to save the 1960s built Century Plaza because it’s curved facade reminds of her of Italian cinema icon Sophia Loren.

Diane, 63, compared the hotel to “a sexy woman surrounded by ogling men – Sophia Loren in the 1960s”.

The Century Plaza was bought a year ago by developer Michael Rosenfeld, who has unveiled plans to demolish it and replace it with two gleaming towers designed by the prestigious New York firm Pei Cobb Freed and Partners.

Mr Rosenfeld insists that he has been encouraged by city authorities keen to regenerate West Hollywood’s Century City, where The Plaza is located, and needs to demolish the hotel to complete his greener, more pedestrian-friendly complex of offices, restaurants and residences.

But Diane said: “We need to honour our city’s history more than we need two new towers.”

Diane is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and was also at the forefront of efforts to save the Ambassador Hotel, which was torn down three years ago and could claim historical importance as the place where Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.

On the day the Ambassador was blown-up by demolition crews in 2006, the actress stood before the wreckage and repreminanded a “confused public who could do nothing more than shrug their shoulders in apathy”.

Tagged with: Ambassador Hotel Bobby Kennedy • Century Plaza • Diane Keaton • First Wives Club • Los Angeles • National Trust for Historic Preservation • New York Times • Sophia Loren

Pet Airways Take Flight Today

On July 14, 2009, in Life/Culture, by admin

Today is the first flight for the husband-and-wife team’s Pet Airways, the first-ever all-pet airline, took off from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y.

All commercial airlines allow a limited number of small pets to fly in the cabin. Others must travel as checked bags or in the cargo hold—a dark and sometimes dangerous place where temperatures can vary wildly.

Binder and Wiesel used their consulting backgrounds and business savvy to start Pet Airways in 2005. The last four years have been spent designing their fleet of five planes according to new four-legged requirements, dealing with FAA regulations and setting up airport schedules.

The two say they’re overwhelmed with the response. Flights on Pet Airways are already booked up for the next two months.

Pet Airways will fly a pet between five major cities—New York, Washington, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles. The $250 one-way fare is comparable to pet fees at the largest U.S. airlines.

For owners the big difference is service. Dogs and cats will fly in the main cabin of a Suburban Air Freight plane, retooled and lined with carriers in place of seats. Pets (about 50 on each flight) will be escorted to the plane by attendants that will check on the animals every 15 minutes during flight. The pets are also given pre-boarding walks and bathroom breaks. And at each of the five airports it serves, the company has created a “Pet Lounge” for future fliers to wait and sniff before flights.

The company will operate out of smaller, regional airports in the five launch cities, which will mean an extra trip for most owners dropping off their pets if they are flying too. Stops in cities along the way means the pets will take longer to reach a destination than their owners.

A trip from New York to Los Angeles, for example, will take about 24 hours. On that route, pets will stop in Chicago, have a bathroom break, play time, dinner, and bunk for the night before finishing the trip the next day.

Awesome.

Tagged with: Chicago • Denver • FAA • Farmingdale • Los Angeles • New York • NY • Pet Airways • Washington